Live monitoring of raman and fiber degradation in DWDM networks using in-service OTDR
AssigneeCiena Corporation
InventorsMohammad Mehdi Mansouri Rad, David C. Bownass, Loren S. Berg, David W. Boertjes, Jean-Luc Archambault
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Abstract
A method of analysing performance of an optical fiber link. As a preliminary step, a reference trace indicative of a distributed optical performance of the optical fiber link is derived. During in-service operation of the optical fiber link, an Optical Time Domain Reflectometry (OTDR) sub-system measures an OTDR trace with Raman amplification ON, and a real-time cumulative Raman Gain profile of the optical fiber link is calculated based on the reference trace and the measured OTDR trace.
Claims19
A method of analysing performance of an optical fiber link, the method comprising:
- deriving a reference trace indicative of a distributed optical performance of the optical fiber link;
- during an initial deployment of the optical fiber link, measuring, by an Optical Time Domain Reflectometry (OTDR) sub-system, a first OTDR trace of the optical fiber link with Raman amplification ON;
- and
- during in-service operation of the optical fiber link, measuring, by the OTDR sub-system, a second OTDR trace with Raman amplification ON;
- and detecting, by a computer, a change in optical characteristics of the optical fiber link since the first cumulative Raman Grain profile was generated, base on the reference trace, the first OTDR trace and the second OTDR trace.
A non-transitory machine readable storage medium comprising software instructions for controlling a computer to execute a process for analysing performance of an optical fiber link, the software instructions comprising instructions for controlling the computer to:
- derive a reference trace indicative of a distributed optical performance of the optical fiber link;
- during an initial deployment of the optical fiber link, control an Optical Time Domain Reflectometry (OTDR)sub-system to measure a first OTDR trace with Raman amplification ON;
- and
- during in-service operation of the optical fiber link, control the OTDR sub-system to measure a second OTDR trace with Raman amplification ON, and detect a change in optical characteristics of the optical fiber link since the first cumulative Raman Gain profile was generated, based on the reference trace, the first OTDR trance and the second OTDR trace.
A system configured to analyse performance of an optical fiber link, the system comprising:
- an Optical Time Domain Reflectometry (OTDR) sub-system configured to measure OTDR trace information of the optical fiber link;
- and
- a computer operatively connected for communication with the OTDR subsystem, the computer configured to:
- derive a reference trace indicative of a distributed optical performance of the optical fiber link
- during an initial deployment of the optical fiber link, control the OTDR sub-system to measure a first OTDR trace with Raman amplification ON, and
- during in-service operation of the optical fiber link, control the OTDR sub-system to measure a second OTDR trace with Raman amplification ON, and detect a change in optical characteristics of the optical fiber link since the first cumulative Raman Gain profile was generated, based on the reference trace, the first OTDR trace and the second OTDR trace.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.